Thousands of people have begun to arrive at Britain’s biggest music festival in the last 24 hours.

Music fans slept in their cars as thousands arrived at Glastonbury ready for the gates to open at 8am.

People arrived at the site in Somerset with rucksacks, tents and crates of beer, prepared for the five-day music festival.

Many fans chose to sleep in their cars or arrive early to queue for the best camping spots.

Lauren Sheffield was at the front of the queue at 6am and wrote on Twitter: “Haven't slept, queuing to get in, right near front of queue sipping on Kronenburg.”

The main performances at the event, which had a fallow year in 2012 to coincide with the Olympic and Paralympic Games, will not start until Friday - when Arctic Monkeys will top the bill, followed by The Rolling Stones on Saturday night and Mumford & Sons closing the festival on Sunday.

That doesn't matter to those setting up camp, with many of the 135,000 ticket holders expected to turn up today.

The weather is expected to be warm and mostly dry, quashing fears of another Worthy Farm washout.

Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis said he believes the weather, combined with the line-up, means this year's festival will be "unusually good".

"The whole thing is fantastic," the 77-year-old farmer said. "There are 1,000 acres of creativity on a massive scale and to a very, very high standard. You won't see anything else like this in the whole world."

There is even the promise of improved Glastonbury toilets, with a new system that sees waste go straight into the ground, designed to beat the infamous smell.

Mr Eavis has even said that, 43 years since the first Glastonbury, they have finally found "the perfect loo".

To mark the resurrection of the festival after a year off, a giant phoenix has been installed on top of the Pyramid stage, designed by Joe Rush, who was behind many of the mechanical vehicles and props used at the Paralympics closing ceremony.

One of the props - a steamship on which singer Rihanna performed - can be found at the festival this year.

Tickets for this year's festival, which cost £205 each, sold out in a record one hour and 40 minutes.

Other highlights fans can expect are appearances from Primal Scream, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Smashing Pumpkins, Elvis Costello, The xx, Public Enemy, Professor Green and Dizzee Rascal.

The festival is also offering some more unusual acts alongside the chart toppers - with Sir Bruce Forsyth playing on the Avalon Stage on Sunday, country star Kenny Rogers taking to the Pyramid Stage the same day, and the Dalai Lama's Tibetan monks also making an appearance.

Celebrities including Kate Moss are set to be among the festival goers, with Sir Mick Jagger even staying in Somerset to enjoy the weekend's festivities.